Status: 02.09.2023, 15:28 p.m.
By: Peter Schiebel
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The city of Starnberg wants to participate in MVV's new rental bike system with seven locations from 2025. © Tobias Hase
The city of Starnberg wants to participate in MVV's new rental bike system with seven locations from 2025. Four pedelecs and an e-cargo bike will be available at each of them. This was decided by the Holiday Committee.
Starnberg – When a new public bicycle rental system (ÖFVS) actually launches in the greater Munich area in the third quarter of 2025, the city of Starnberg wants to be part of it. The holiday committee, the small city council, so to speak, unanimously decided last week to participate in the system. According to this, there will be seven locations for so-called mobility points in the city area: at See station, at Nord station, in the centre of Söcking, in the Angerweide/Egerer Straße area, in the Waldspielplatz/Wiesengrund area, on Emslanderstraße and on the eastern shore of the lake in Percha.
The exact locations have not yet been determined, as has the design of the rental stations, as city architect Stephan Weinl explained at the meeting. Four pedelecs and an e-cargo bike will be available at each station. Relying exclusively on electrical support makes sense due to the topographical conditions in Starnberg, Weinl said. The city wants to do its part to "gradually move towards the mobility turnaround," he emphasized.
The ÖFVS is based on a study by the Mobility Institute Berlin. This was jointly commissioned by the Munich Transport and Tariff Association (MVV) and its eight districts – Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen, Dachau, Ebersberg, Erding, Freising, Fürstenfeldbruck, Munich and Starnberg – as well as the City of Munich to make it easier for people to switch to bicycles.
First of all, the office examined the current offer and its use, Weinl explained. "With regard to the vehicle use of bicycles in Munich (here: MVG Rad), there are significant traffic peaks in the morning and afternoon during the course of the day," it said in the meeting submission for the holiday committee. This indicates a use of the rental bikes in commuter and commuter traffic. The rental period of an MVG bike is on average ten to twelve minutes.
In addition, the institute developed quality criteria for future systems. These include, among other things, "a station-based system with many small stations to both increase findability for users and contribute to a tidy streetscape," according to the bill. "In addition, safe, high-quality and durable bicycles should be offered."
How exactly this public transport system will be set up, who the operator is, what the stations look like and how high the tariffs will be – all this has not yet been determined. A framework agreement is to be put out to tender in September. The contract is scheduled to be awarded in January 2024. On the other hand, it is clear that the participating districts and municipalities will incur costs. Weinl stated that the one-off investment costs were 8800 euros per station – 61,600 euros for seven stations in Starnberg. In addition, there would be annual operating costs of 1000 euros per pedelec and 2000 euros per e-cargo bike – in Starnberg with 28 pedelecs and seven e-cargo bikes, that would be 42,000 euros every year. The traffic officer of the city council, Dr. Thorsten Schüler (UWG), spoke in the meeting of "two important advantages" that the ÖFVS should bring. On the one hand, it is designed to span districts and municipalities. "There are no more isolated solutions," he said. On the other hand, the station-based system should mean that the rental bikes cannot be parked everywhere in the city and then stand around there. "We are setting the right priorities here," emphasized SPD city councillor Tim Weidner.
However, there were also isolated critical voices from the ranks of the Holiday Committee. Rudolf Zirngibl (CSU) wanted to know whether the city even had the money to participate in the system. Schüler replied that the city is not yet making any commitment with the decision in principle.
The city administration is now also tasked with submitting the framework agreement to the city council committees after completion. So there should be a little more clarity over the next year.